January 13, 2012

Kindergartens in Denmark are fairly inexpensive, compared to what I hear from other countries, as approximately half of the costs are paid by the state, over our tax-system.

However, this does NOT mean that there are plenty of ressources to purchase stuff for (neither for the employees, nor for the children). On the contrary. So, unoffically, they have to ask the parents for help and I volounteered to help them with a little hemming of a set of curtains and when I saw the state of a little, very worn out couch, I secretly decided to make a quilt to cover it and for the kiddos to snuggle with.

So this quilt came to be:

A very easy and fast quilt to make, as it made from a layer cake (10 x 10 inches) of Riley Blake's Line "Alphabet Soup, Boy" and additional 10 x 10 blocks cut from Erin McMorris' line "Lake Summersault", paired with Kona solids. I love the bright and happy patterns and colours!
The quilt had to be quite big to cover the couch adequately, so it ended up measuring whopping 92.5'' x 55''!

The back is made from leftovers from the front (only tiny bits!), leftovers from an IKEA cars bedding sheet I had shortened to make bedding for Johan and more Kona solids.

Yes! It was quite windy when I tried to get some decent photos! :)
Gotta love those cars and trucks and busses!

I quilted a dense all-over doodle and the ends with straight line quilting, to ensure that the quilt would be able to withstand the wear and tear and lot of washing such a quilt have to undergo.

And who does not love a striped binding in happy, happy colours!?
I surely cannot :)

The quilt was delivered by Santa's little helper (aka Johan) on December 1st. It was very well received, patted, admired and was immediately used to hide all 12 kiddos under, that is Johan's group!

January 10, 2012

Way back mid 2011, I found a free pattern using petal shaped, raw-edge appliquéed scraps.

Now, I cannot for the life of me find the orginal pattern, nor the homepage where I saw it first (remember to keep track, guys!) . I though it was from Fat Quarterly, but I simply cannot locate anywhere.

So, if you recognize it, please let me know and I will give credit to whom credit is rightfully due!

I really wanted to try it out, but did not have the scraps, nor the time!'

Then one day, my far-far-away friend Kristaposted an absolutely lovely quilt she had made for herself on her blog. And a little time later I had to admit to myself, that one of UFO was never meant to be, which resulted in loads of abandoned fabric, just in the right size for the above mentioned patten.

Then Krista and I started up the Geese in a Ring Swap together (yes, we live in different parts of the world, but who cares? That is what the internet and email is for, right?!) and not long thereafter, she gave birth to the sweetest tiny boy, Jacob.

Krista is the mother of 3 small boys, and I think she is a wonderful person:

Juggling hospitalization, babies, surgeries, a home, a husband, quilting, running.... I could continue. And all along she is keeps on being as sweet, caring and funny as when I joined my first virtual quilting bee back in 2009 and clicked with her.

SO! When I found out her birthday was coming up, I decided to make her a birthday quilt!

This is the end result (click for a larger picture):

The fabrics used are (among others): Tufted Tweets (Laurie Wisbrun), Modern Meadow (Joel Dewberry), some of Pat Bravo's designs and Parisville (Tula Pink) and a few Kona solids

Sashing: Kona Cotton Berry

The main fabric with the dots have been in my stash for ages.

The backing was made by the last of the dotted fabric, a tiny bit of Kona and then the remaining leaves scattered in a vine-inspired way, on a whim. I am actually not sure which side I like the most!

For the back, I free-motion quilted the laves onto the back, using the quilting to enhance the leaves' shape and connecting them with thread-branches.

Note to self: next time, use stabilizer, it will be so much more easy! ;o)

I quilted the entire quilt sandwich (I again used bamboo batting for maximum softness) with diagonal lines through the blocks to get discreet stability, and also around each block. Wow, that straight line quilting is fast!!

Finally, I bound it with dotted fabric, packed it together with the first 2 rounds' worth of geese blocks from all over the world and sshipped it off to Krista on 23rd December 2011.

Krista received the pack yesterday, and since it was a surprice I have not been able to blog about it before now !! Hehehe! Got you, sweet chica!!